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Immigration of the Irish Quakers
into Pennsylvania
1682 - 1750
With Their Early History in Ireland
by
Albert Cook Myers, M. L.
Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
"There is not one of the family but what likes the country very well
and wod. If we were in Ireland again come here Directly
it being the best country for working folk & tradesmen of any in the
world, but for Drunkards and Idlers, they cannot live well any
where." - Letter of an
Irish Quaker, 1725
The Author
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
1902
Pt. 3*
CHAPTER III.
SOME PROMINENT IRISH FRIENDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Page 237-247
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JAMES LOGAN
The Irish Quaker Governor of Pennsylvania
Pg, 237
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[Page 237]
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THE most
eminent of the Irish Friends and one of the most
important personages of the Province, was James Logan,
the faithful friend and efficient secretary and agent of
the Proprietor, William Penn. He was born
of Scotch parentage, 8 Mo. (October) 20, 1674, at Lurgan
County Armagh, Ireland.1 His father.
Patrick Logan, a native of east East Lothian.
Scotland, where ancestry has not yet been satisfactorily
of Edinburgh, with the degree of Master of Arts, 2
and became a clergyman of the Established Church,
serving for a time as chaplain to Lord Belhaven3
; but later he joined the Society of Friends and removed
with his family to Lurgan, where he took charge of a
Latin school.
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1. Penn and Logan Correspondence, I., liii,
Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Vol. IX.
2. Proud, I., 473
3. Keith, Provincial Councillers of Pennsylvania,
5.
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James Logan |
[Page 238]
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His Autobiography |
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About all that is known of James Logan's early life is contained
in his autobiography which as it has never been published - so
far as I can learn - is here printed in its entirety:
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Ancestry |
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My Father
was born in E. Lothain in Scotland: was educated for the
Clergy, & was a Chaplain for some time; but turning
Quaker, he was obliged to go to Ireland & to teach a
Latin School there - He had several children,1 of whom
none are now living, nor have been, more than these 50
years past, saving my Br Wm who
took his degree of Doctor of Physick in Holland - and is
now the chief Physician in Bristol - and myself- My
Mother was Isabel Hume Daught
of James Hume - younger Brother of the House of
St. Leonards, of the Shire of Mers (as I think) in the
South of Scotland. He was Manager of the Estate of
the Earl of Murray - who owed, but never paid him
£1500 Sterl. tho the
said Earl lodged for some years in his House in
the Shire of Fife - My Grandmother, before she married,
was Bethia Dundas,2 Sister of the Laird of Dundas,
of Murray assisted my Grandfather in carrying off my
Grandmother - She was nearly related to the Earl of
Panmat [Panmure] &c.
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The Family Flees to Scotland, 1689 |
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Having learned Latin, Greek, and some Hebrew, before I
was 13 years of age - in my 14th I was put Apprentice to
a Linnen Draper - one as considerable with his
Partner as any in Dublin. But the Prince of
Orange, landing before I was bound (tho' I served my
Mater 6 months) in the
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The Family Flees to Scotland, 1689 |
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winter 1688, I went down to my
Parents - and the wars in Ireland coming on, In the
Spring I went over to Edinburg with my Mother after
which my Father soon followed, who being out of
employment - repair'd to London, & was there gladly
receiv'd by our friends - Deputies to |
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His Father Teaches Friends' School
at Bristol |
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the Gen'l Meeting from Bristol in that City - as their
schoolmaster3 - for the
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1Hannah Logan, daughter of Patrick
Logan, of Lurgan, died 7 Mo. 15, 1678, and was
interred in the burial place at Monreanerty - MS.
Lurgan Meeting Records
2Isabel, sister of Bethia, and
daughter of William Maule of Glaster, grandson of
Lord Panmure, married James Dundas, of
Dudingston in West Lothian. - Robert Douglas,
Peerage of Scotland, p. 544 (Edinburgh, 1764) and
Baronage of Scotland, p. 178 (Edinburgh, 1798).
3In the Bristol Meeting minutes of 4 Mo.,
1690, is the following reference to Patrick,
father of James Logan: "Paul Moone
acquaints this meeting that Patrick Logan, a
Friend, late of Ireland, and now at London - a |
[Page 239]
Latin Language, and I followed him
the next year; but tho' the wages were good, and well
paid, he could not brook the Mothers taking upon them to
direct his treatment of their children, and thereupon
soon disliking it, having ordered by Mother to return to
Irel'd to take care of what they had left
there.
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In 1693 after above 3 years stay there, pretending to go
over for my Mother,1 but with a real design never to
return He left me in his school, not full 19 years of
age - ordering me on the receipt of his Letter
Signifying my Mother would not come over, that I should
give up the school & return to him. But our
Friends would not give me up, I therefore continued in
the same employment untill the peace of Reswick in 1697
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His Father Returns to Ireland and
Leaves Son in Charge of School, 1693 |
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In which
time, as I had in Edinburgh in my 16th year,
happily met with a book of the Leyborns on the
Mathematics, I made myself Master of that, without any
manner of Instruction, and in the time in which I kept
school, I further improved myself in the Greek looking a
little further into the Hebrew - I also learned French &
Italian with some Spanish; but went 3 mos. to French
Master to learn the Pronunciation, without which I was
sensible I should never be able to speak it. But
otherwise I never paid one penny for Learning any thing
whatsoever, and tho' I had my course of Humanity - as it
is called in Ireland from my Father, I can safely say,
he never gave me the least instruction whatsoever, more
than he gave to the other scholars -
Good scholar, and an apt schoolmaster
to instruct youth in Latin, &c., is a present out of
employment, and, upon some discourse of it among Friends
at London, is in some expectation that he may be
serviceable to friends' children at Bristol upon
consideration of which this meeting is desirous to
promote it, in hopes it may be serviceable to our
youth." In 9 Mo. following the treasurer was
desired to hand Patrick Logan "
£50, and to pay Jno.
Harwood's note of carpenter's work for the said
school." - William Tanner, Three Lectures on
the Early Society of Friends in Bristol and
Somersetshire, London, 1858, p. 124.
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1. At Ulster Province Meeting, 2 Mo. 13,
1695, "some Books being brought To Pattk
Loagan Sent him from George Keeth & friends
being Sensiblee of ye hurt which ensued if ye
Said Books Should be received amongst any professing
Truth have Therefore Concluded ye Said Books
Shall be viewed and Prescd [persued] by Some
Sencible friends and ye Errours noated in ye margent and
Then Sent back To George Keeth To London
for prevention of his Sending any more Such factious
Books and That a Letter be also Sent with ye Said on
behalfe of ye Province Meeting To George
Keeth. |
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Studies Mathematics and the
Languages. |
[Page 240]
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Engages in Shipping, 1697 |
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But to
return; After the Peace, having first agreed in Bristol,
to go over with another Factor to Jamaica, I went over
to Ireland to see my Parents1: and having
told them my intention of going over to that Island, my
Mother was so averse to it, that she affirmed she would
much rather see me dead - was so averse to it, that she
affirmed she would much rather see me dead - On this I
was obliged to change my measures, & began with a cargo,
from Dublin, to enter on a trade between that place and
Bristol, which I followed for about 8 months.
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Becomes Penn's Secretary, 1690 |
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When in the
spring of 1699, our old Proprietor [William Penn}
sent for me, and made me his proposals to come over to
Penna as his Secretary, and desired me to
take time & advice upon it - Some of my Friends advised
me to accept, & some others as strenuously against it;
but in some few days I went over to Bath - with my frd
Ed Hackel, & accepted of it.
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Comes to Pennsylvania |
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In 8 or 1699, being then at Sea, in our voyage
hither - I was 25 ys. of age - The Proprietor continued here 2 years
wanting about 5 weeks, and left me in more offices that
I was fit to undertake &got thro'. But had I left
his whole business - at the time of his departure, I
might - considering my singular good fortune - or the
kind Providence that has ever attended me - for which I
can never be sufficiently grateful, I might I say with
great ease have doubled my present fortune - & equaled
what the Propts son Thos charged me with
having - according to an information he recd viz: -
£60,000 but I am fully
content with what I have tho' not half so much - The old
Proprietor was willing to give me what I would ask, for
my ten years service, & considering his melancholy
circumstances in 1711 I set it at £100 a year curcy
for all manner of services whatsoever, But told
him I would stay in his service no more than 2 years -
But he was seized with an apoplectic fit in less than 1
year which tied me down to his business, vastly it
proved to my loss - as my Letters designed at first for
our Proprietor Thos Penn fully demonstrate
- 2
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Public Life |
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Penn brought Logan to Pennsylvania on his
second coming in the Canterbury, in 1699, and immediately
plunged him into the affairs of the
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1 William Penn wrote to
James Logan from London, 4 Mo. 21, 1702: "Of they
Family. - Thou hast heard of the death of thy father and
marriage of thy mother with one not a Friend; an
exercise W. Ed [William Edmundson] &c told
me so at our Yearly Meeting." - Penn and Logan
Correspondence, I., 117.
2 From a copy (No. 108) in the Smith MSS.,
Vol. I, 1678-1743 (F. 7287½
), Ridgeway Branch, Philadelphia Library Company |
[Page 241]
Colony. Young
Logan soon showed such marked capacity for business
and administration that his services became
indispensable, and Penn, on his departure for England in
1701, not only continued him as Secretary of the
Province but gave him a general charge both of the
government and property, saying, "I have left thee in an
uncommon trust with a singular dependence on thy justice
and care."1
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The Proprietor's confidence was not misplaced: for
though beset by many troubles and vexations, Logan
ever remained true to his trust, and discharged his
duties with fidelity and judgment. His life
becoming more and more occupied with public affairs for
the next forty years he was always holding some high
office - Commissioner of Property, member of Provincial
Council, Judge of Common Pleas, Mayor of Philadelphia,
Chief Justice; and, in 1836-38, as President of the
Provincial Council, acting as Governor of Pennsylvania.2
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Governor of Province |
He became the devoted leader of the Proprietary Party in
the long and bitter political conflict that was waged
after Penn's return to England, and zealously guarded
the Penn interests and prerogatives against what were
deemed the encroachments of the Popular Party of the
Assemb-
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1. Penn and Logan Correspondence,
I., 59
2. See Wilson Armistead's Memoirs of James Logan,
London, 1851. |
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[Page 242]
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bly, led by David
Lloyd, and of the Church Party, led by Colonel
Robert Quarry. It is true that in these
earlier years of his life Logan did at times
become heated in partisan controversy, to such an extent
as to make himself unpopular; but later in life he was
generally respected for his learning, character, and
ability. He remained a Friend all his life, but
differed from the great body of the Society in his
belief in defensive war. |
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Relations with the Indians |
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Like his friend Penn, Logan knew how to win and
keep the confidence of the Indians. It was largely
due to him that friendship and alliance between them and
the Province was so long maintained. He often had
them as guests at Stenton, his beautiful county-seat,
near Germantown. On some occasions, it is said,
there were as many as three or four hundred, who would
remain for days enjoying the hospitality of the
plantaiton.1 The high regard in which
he was held by the Indians was expressed by Cannassetego,
chief of the Onondagas, in a speech at the making of a
treaty between the Six Nations and Governor Thomas and
the Council, at Philadelphia, in July, 1742:
Brethren, we called at our friend James Logan's
on our way to this city and to our grief found him hid
in the bushes and retired through infirmities from
public business. We pressed him to leave his
retirement, and prevailed with him to assist once more
on our account at your council. He is a wise man
and a fast friend to the Indians, and we desire when his
soul goes to God you may choose in his room just such
another person of the
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1
Armistead, 176 |
[Page 243]
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same prudence and ability in counseling,
and of the same tender disposition and affection for the
Indians.1 |
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It is not only
as a statesman but also as a man of letters and science
that James Logan is conspicuous in our colonial
annals. The fortune which he acquired in commerce
and in trade with the Indians enabled him to spend his
latter days in scholarly retirement at Stenton,1 in the
enjoyment of his library and in writing. He
carried on an extensive correspondence with the most
learned en of Europe and America, and wrote numerous
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1 Cited in Westcott's
Historic Mansions,149
2 The picturesque and dignified old mansion
of Stenton, built by Logana in 1728, is one of
the most interesting examples of colonial architecture
extant. Thanks to the loving zeal of the
Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America,
it has recently been carefully restored, and under their
trusty guardianship it has been opened to the public.
The house, still surrounded by ample grounds and reached
by a fine avenue of hemlocks, is a two story brick
structure with two great towering chimneys and a heavy
roof set with dormer windows.
Passing up the curious circular stone steps, firmly
clamped together with iron, one enters the great hall,
paved with brick and wainscoted to the ceiling. In
one corner is an open fireplace, and in the rear the
stately double staircase. On either hand are lofty
rooms, also handsomely wainscoted. The large
fireplace in the room to the left has in it a backplate
of iron inscribed "J. L. 1728." In another room
the fireplace still retains some of its original blue
and white Dutch tiles, of most grotesque pattern.
One of the most attractive rooms is the library, in
which the book-loving master of the place spent much of
his time. This is a large finely lighted
apartment, taking up half of the front of the house in
the second story. Indeed, the ancient house is
full of delights for the antiquary and the lover of the
olden time. From garrett to cellar there are al
sorts of quaint nooks and corners, mysterious cupboards
and closets and secret staircases; and leading from the
cellar to the stables is a long underground passage, the
subject of many a strange legend. |
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[Page 244]
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works, many of which are still unprinted. His
letters and writings show that there was almost no topic
in science or literature that he could not discuss with
the scholars of his time. "Sometimes Hebrew or
Arabic characters and algebraic formulas roughen the
pages of his letter-books. Sometimes his letters
convey a lively Greek ode to a learned friend; and often
they are written in the Latin tongue."1
His friend Linnaeus, in compliment to his botanical
knowledge, named father him a natural order of herbs and
shrubs, the Loganiaceae. Containing some thirty
genera in three hundred and fifty species. He
published Latin essays on reproduction in plants, and on
the aberration of light; translated Cato's Disticha
and Cicero's De Senectute, and issued many other
works which are listed in Joseph Smith's
monumental Catalogue of Friends' Books.2
His correspondence with the Penn family from
1700 - 1750, which is a mine of historical formation,
reveals his carefulness and intellectual breadth.
Says Professor Tyler, "Occasionally one
finds in it a passage of general discussion, in which
the clear brain and the noble heart of the writer utter
themselves in language of real beauty and force."
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1. J. F. Fisher, in Spark's
Works of Franklin, VII, 24-27, note.
2. See also Hildeburn's Issues of the
Pennsylvania Press.
3. Moses Coit Tyler, A History of
Amerian Literature (New York, 1881), II, 234. |
[Page 245]
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He bequeathed to the City of Philadelphia his private
library of 3,000 volumes, comprising all the Latin
classics and more than a hundred folios in Greek.
These books formed the foundation of the Loganian
Library which later was included in the Philadelphia
Library Company.1 |
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"In personal
appearance," says Watson,2 "James Logan
was tall and well proportioned with a graceful yet grave
demeaner. He had a good complexion, and was quite
florid even in old age, nor did his hair, which was
brown, turn gray in his decline of life, nor his eyes
require spectacles. According to the customs of
the times, he wore a powdered wig. His whole
manner was dignified, so as to abash impertinence; yet
he was kind and strictly just in all the minor duties of
acquaintance and society." William Black,
a Virginia gentleman, who visited Logan at Stenton, in
1744, says of his host, that he "seem'd to have some
Remains of a handsome . . . Person and a Complection
beyond his years, for he was turn'd off 70."3 |
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Personal Appearance |
From his correspondence with Penn we learn of Logan's
early disappointment in love. It seems that he had
formed an attachment for Ann Shippen, daughter of
Edward Shippen, the first
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1 Armistead, 174-5
2 Annals of Philadelphia, I., 254
3 Journal of William Black, Penn'a Mag., 407 |
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Unsuccessful Courtship |
[Page 246]
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Mayor of
Philadelphia, but the fair Ann was inclined to listen to
the vows of another suitor, Thomas Story, the
eminent minister. The progress of the love after
soon become the town-talk, and even reached the ears of
Penn in England.1 "I am anxiously
grieved for thy unhappy love," writes Penn to
Logan, under date, 11 Mo. 16, 1704-5, "for thy sake
and my own, for T. S. and thy discord has been of
no service here, any more than there; and some say that
some thence that thy amours have so altered or
influenced thee that thou art grown touchy and apt to
give rough and short answers, which many call haughty,
&c. I make no judgment, but caution thee, as in
former letters to let truth preside and bear
impertinencies as patiently as thou canst."2
To this Logan replied, 12 Mo. 11, 1704-5, "I
cannot understand that paragraph in thy letter relating
to T. S. and myself; thou says our discord has
done no more good there than here, and know not who
carried the account of it for I wrote to none that I
know but thyself in 7ber, 1703. .
. . Before that we had lived
eighteen months very good friends, without any manner of
provocation, only that I had about three or four months
before spoke something to Edward Shippen.
. . ."3
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1.
See Thomas Wescott's Historic Mansions
of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1895), 144-5
2. Penn and Logan Correspondence, I., 358
3. Ibid., I, 367 |
[Page 247]
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In the following year Ann Shippen and Thomas
Story were married, and Logan seems to have
become reconciled to the match. He wrote to
William Penn, Jr., August 12, 1706, "Thomas Story
carries very well since his marriage. He and I are
very great friends, for I think the whole business is
not now worth a quarrel."1 In the
course of time he recovered from his |
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disappointment, and on the 9th of 10 Mo., 1714, was
happily married to Sarah Read, daughter of
Charles Read, a wealthy merchant of the City,
sometime Mayor and Provincial Councilor.2
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Marriage |
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James Logan died 10 Mo. 31, 1751, in his
seventy-seventh year, and was interred in friends'
burial ground at Fourth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia.
Of his children, Sarah married, in 1739.
Isaac Norris; William Logan, who married
Hannah Emlen,3 served as Provincial
Councilor, 1747-17764; and Hannah married John
Smith, 2 of the scholarly Smiths
of Burlington, New Jersey, ancestor of John
Jay Smith, for many years at the head of the
Philadelphia Library Company.5
Of the Irish Friends following closely after James Logan
in order of prominence is.......
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1 Penn and Logan Correspondence, II., 158
2 Westcott, Historic Mansions, 146
3 See The Burlington Smiths, by R. Morris
Smith
4 Penna. Archives, 2nd Series, IX., 624
5 For a genealogical account of hte Logan family see
Keith's Provincial Councillars of Pennsylvania and
Memoir of Dr. George Logan of Stenton, (issued by
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1899). |
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Death |
[Page 248]
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Thomas Holme |
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Captain Thomas Holme,
Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania and Provential
Councilor.1 He was born in 1624; although a great
part of his life was spent in Ireland, his biographer,
Oliver Hough, thinks there is little doubt that
his birthplace is in England, possibly in Yorkshire.
He is styled "gentleman," and evidently came of good
family, probably from a younger branch of the family,
probably from a younger branch of the family of Holme
of Huntington, in Yorkshire, as he used an armorial seal
on his official papers, corresponding with the arms2
of this family.
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In Ireland |
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Thomas Holme was residing in Limerick, Ireland,
in 1655, for it is stated in A COMPENDIOUS VIEW Of Some
Extraordinary SUFFERINGS Of the . . . QUAKERS . . . In . .
. Ireland, etc.3 that in 1655, James Sicklemore, one of
the early converts made by Elizabeth Fletcher and
Elizabeth Smith "being peacably in Thomas Holme's
House in Limerick, was seized on with a Guard
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1 For helpful suggestions
and many of the facts used in this sketch of Thomas Holme
I am indebted to Mr. Oliver Hough's carefully prepared
biography of him in Penna. Magazine, XIX., 413-427; XX.
128-131, 248-256.
2. The
arms are described in Burke's General Armory as:
"Argent, a chrevon azure, between three chaplets gules."
Mr. Hough says that the shield on Thomas Holme's
seal is the same, surrounded by a bordure with ten roundels, the
bordure being used to distinguish the branch of the family.
3. Dublin: Printed by and for SAMUEL
FULLER, at the Globe in Meath-Street, 1731. |
[Page 249]
of Soldiers, and committed to Prison and banished the City of
Order of Colonel Ingoldsby."1
In 1657, Thomas Holme and others, "being
peaceably in their Friends House in Cashel, and their Horses at
an Inn, as travelling Men, were apprehended by a Guard of
Soldiers, in the Year 1657, by Order of Colonel Richard Le
Hunt, and being brought before him and examined, were
violently (by Soldiers) turned out of the Town, and the Gates
kept against them through it was near Night, and a dangerous
Time for Englishmen to lie out of Garrison, because of the
Tories or Robers, and thereby exposed to the Hazard of their
Lives."2
In 1859, he and fifty-two others published an address
to Parliament reciting "the Cruel and Unjust Sufferings of the
People of God in the Nation of Ireland Called Quakers."
This pamphlet3 relates that "Thomas Holme
(late a Captain in the Army) . . . and several of the Lords
people, being in a peaceable meeting at Wexford had their
meeting forcibly broken and many of them violently haled and
turned out of the Town, by order from Edward Withers
Mayor then." It may reasonably be presumed from this
account that Thomas Holme came into Ireland as a member
of
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1. A Compendious View,
etc., 51.
2. Ibid., 53.
3. London, Printed for Thomas Simmons at the
Bull and Mouth, near Aldersgate, 1659. |
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[Page 250]
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the New Model,
and in the Cromwellian Settlement doubtless received his
allotment of land along with his fellow officers.
He became one of the earliest converts to Quakerism in
the Island, and about the time of the issue of the
address of 1659 was living in Limerick, for it i stated
that a guard of soldiers from Colonel
Ingoldesby, Governor of the Town, "rifled the houses
of Richard Piercy and Thomas
Holme, and took away what books and papers they
pleased." At a later date he was residing in
Waterford, but probably held date he was residing in
Waterford, but probably held property in Wexford.
He seems to have travelled extensively over the central
and southern parts of the country, attending meetings of
the society. At Cashell, as related in the
pamphlet, he, Thomas Loe, and others being "on
their Journey" were brought before the officer in charge
of the town, who commanded his soldiers "(violently) to
turne them out of the town and to cut their pates; three
of them were not suffered to go into the town again for
their horses."
In 1660,1 and also in 1661,2 Thomas Holme and
other Friends were taken from meetings in Dublin and
committed to Newgate prison by order of the Mayor of the
City. In 1672, he and Abraham Duller, of
Ireland, published "A Brief Rela--------------------------
1 Besse, II., 466
2 Ibid., II, 471 |
[Page 251]
tion of some of the Sufferings of the True Christians, the People
of God (called in scorn Quakers) in Ireland for these last 11
years, viz. from 1660 until 1671. Collected by T. H.
and A. F." 1 On page 44 we have seen how
in 1673, Holme lost £200 on
account of his scruples against taking an oath in court.
In 1676, "Thomas Holme of Kilbride Parish [County
Wexford] had taken from him for Tithe, by Garret Cavenaugh
Tithmonger," wheat, barley, and oats, valued at £I. 5s.;
2 at another time in the same year the "Priest" of
Stephen's Parish County Waterford, seized his
"Warming-pan," worth I0s., for a tithe of 5s.3.
Thomas Holme was one of the first of the Irish
Friends to take an active interest in William Penns
proposed colony of Pennsylvania; he was a First Purchaser,
having acquired the title to 5,000 acres,4 and also
became a member of the Free Society of
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1. In 1731, there was printed a work called "A
Compendious VIEW of Some Extraordinary SUFFERINGS of the People
call'd QUAKERS both in Person and Substance in the
Kingdome of Ireland, from the year 1655 to the End of the Reign
of King GEORGE the First. In Three Parts. I.
Contains the true Grounds and Reasons of their Consciencious
Dissent from other Religious Denominations in Sundry
Particulars, - By A. Fuller and T. Holmes, Anno
1671. 2 Contains Manifold Examples of their grevious Sufferings
under Oliver Cromwell and the Reign of King
Charles the IId for the aforesaid Reasons. III. Is
a Brief Synopsis of the Number of Prisoners," &c.
Dublin Printed by and for Samuel Fuller,
at the Globe in Meath-street. 8 vo. 1731.
2. William Stockdale's A Great Cry of
Oppression, 71.
3. Ibid., 73.
4. Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania, 641 |
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[Page 252]
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Traders, subscribing for £50 of
stock.1 On April 18, 1682, Penn
appointed him Surveyor-General of the Province. The
commission reads:
I, the said William Penn, reposing special
confidence in the integrity and ability of my loving friend,
Captain Thomas Holme of the city of Waterford, in the
kingdom of Ireland, do by these presents elect, empower, and
establish him, the said Thomas Holme, in the office,
trust, and employment of surveyor-general of the said province
of Pennsylvania, for and during his natural life, he behaving
himself honestly adn faithfully in the said office.2
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Sails for the Province |
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Captain Holme sailed for
Pennsylvania in the Amity, which left the Downs April 23,
1682,3 bringing with him his family and John
Claypoole, an assistant surveyor. James Claypoole,
the father of John, wrote from London to his brother, on
the 30th, "I have been at Gravesend with My son John, who
has gone per the Amity, Richard Dimond, Master,
for Pennsylvania, to be assistant to the general surveyor, whose
name is Thomas Holmes a very honest, ingenious, worthy
man."4
The Surveyor-General and his family arrived in
Pennsylvania late in June5 and made their residence
at Shackamaxon, staying for a time at the
-------------------------
1. Penna. Mag., XI., 180. At
the first meeting of the Society, held in London May 29, 1682,
he was appointed on a committee of twelve to reside in
Pennsylvania. - Hazard, 576
2. Hazard, 555.
3. Hough in Penna. Mag., XIX.,
417-418; Claypoole's Letter-book (MS. in collection of
Hist. Soc. of Penna.; extracts are printed in Penna. Mag.,
X., 188-202, 207-282, 401-413), cited by Hazard 558.
4. Hough in Penna. Mag., XIX,
417; Hazard, 558
5. Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania,
577; Stone in Winsor, , 481; H. M. Jenkins,
Philadelphia, I., 31. |
[Page 253]
house of Thomas Fairman, who in this year sent a bill of
charges to William Penn for lodging Captain Holme
and his two sons and two daughters.1 Holme
brought a friendly letter from Penn to the Indians, which says
of Holme himself. "The man which delivers this unto
you, is my Special ffriend, Sober, wise and Loving, you may
believe him." He made a memorandum on the letter, "I read
this to the Indians by an Interpreter 6 mo 1682 - Tho Holme."2
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Holme at once entered upon the
duties of his office, and was much occupied with the country
purchasers and surveys of their land. At the same time he
was also acting with the commissioners in the development of
plans for the City of Philadelphia, the site of which, no doubt,
had come to a decision as to the final plan, Holmelaid
out the city in much the same form as we know it to-day.
"A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia," drawn up by him and
printed in book3 published in London in 1683, is the earliest
-------------------------
1. Hough in Penna. Mag., XIX., 418.
2. See facimile of letter, Penna. Mag., XIX.,
413.
3. A Letter from William Penn Proprietary and
Governor of Pennsylvania In America, to the Committee of the
Free Society of Traders of the Province, residing in London,
etc. To which is Added, An Account of the City of
Philadelphia Newly laid out Its Scituation between two Navigable
Rivers, Delaware and Skulkill with a Portraiture or Plat-form
thereof, etc. "Printed and sold by Andrew Sowle,
at the Crooked-Billet, in the Halloway-Lane, in Shoreditch, and
at several stationers in London, 1683." |
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Lays Out Philadelphia |
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Francis Rawle, the younger, of Philadelphia, and left
numerous descendants.1 Another daughter,
Mary, married Joseph Pidgeon, and died before her
father.
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Thomas Griffitts |
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Thomas Griffitts,
son of George2 and Frances Griffitts, of
Cork, was another of the Irish Friends to serve as
Provincial Councillor and to hold other important
positions. The Friends of Cork signed him a
certificate of removal, 8 Mo. 16, 1716, stating that he
was clear "in respect to Marriage." At that date
he was residing on the Bay of Donna Maria in Jamaica,
but was about to remove to Pennsylvania.
The Meeting at Kingston, in that island, also gave him
a certificate, 11 Mo. 21, 1716, and his parents wrote
from Cork to Isaac Norris and Jonathan
Dickinson, of Philadelphia, desiring them to assist
him "in that weighty affair." He then settled in
Philadelphia, became a merchant, and in 1717 married
Mary, daughter of Isaac Norris.
In 1723, he was appointed
Treasurer to the
-------------------------
1 See Rawle in American Genealogist; Glenn,
Some Colonial Mansions and Those Who Lived in Them,
II
2. In 1677, George Griffits, a Friend of
Shandon Parish, County Cork, for "Priests Dues," had
taken from him "two pewter dishes worth nine shillings 6
pence" and "a Brass Chafing dish and Skellet," valued at
10 s. In the following year, in the City of Cork,
George Griffits for a tithe of 3s 6d. had taken
"one large pewter dish and a Tankard," valued at 8 s and
10 s. "taken out of a purse from his Servant," by the
church wardem - William Stockdale, A Great Cry
of Oppression, 74, 93, 114. |
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Old View of Merion Meeting House, Montgomery County. Built
1695 |
[Page 263]
Trustees for
the Free Society of Traders; and in 1724, he, James
Logan, and three others were chosen by the Penn
family to sell land and to issue land warrants and
patents. In 1729-30 and in 1733, he served as
Mayor of Philadelphia. He was Keeper of the Great
Seal of the Province from 1732 to 1734, and in 1733,
took his seat in the Provincial Council. He was
judge of the Supreme Court from 1739 to 1743.
He died in 1746, leaving three children to survive him:
Isaac Griffitts, sometime Sheriff of Philadelphia
County, married Sarah Fitzwater, in July , 1745,
and died July 1, 1755; Mary, born March 20, 1721,
died unmarried, in 1791; and Hannah, born 1727,
died unmarried, in August 24, 1817.1
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Robert Strettell,2
Provincial councillor and Mayor of Philadelphia, was
born of Quaker parentage, 10 Mo. 25, 1693, in Back Lane,
Dublin. His father, Amos Streetll,3
descended from a
-------------------------
1 See Keith's Provincial Councillers, 184.
2 See Keith's Provincial Councillers of
Pennsylvania, 196-208; also entries from Strettell
family Bible in Miscellaneoa Genealogica et Heraldica,
III., 2`1, 1d Series, London, 1890, and Penn'a Mag.,
I,. 241, II., 114-115.
3 His father, Hugh Strettell, son of Thomas
Strettell (of Blakley, born 1598, died Aug., 1657)
and his wife, Margaret Graffitt (of Alderley,
married 1619), was born 1622, and was marrried to
Mary Hulme, daughter of Francis Hulme. Hugh
and Mary Strettell became members of the Society of
Friends and resided at Saltersley, Cheshire; he died 7
Mo. 5, 1671, nd she died 7 Mo. 11, 1662; buried in
Friends' ground at Mobberly.
Children of Amos and Experience Strettell:
Robert, b. 10 MO. 25, |
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Robert Strettell |
[Pg. 264]
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respectable
Cheshire family, was born 12 Mo. (Feb.) 24, 1657, at
Saltersley, in Mobberly, Cheshire, and removed to Dublin
in 1 Mo. (March) 1678-9, where he was married to
Anne, daughter of Roger and Mary Roberts, of
Dublin. She died 11 Mo. 8, 1685-6, and then he was
married, 1 Mo. (March) 23, 1692-3, by friends' ceremony,
to experience Cuppage, daughter of Major Robert
Cuppage1 and Elizabeth his wife,
prominent Friends of Lambstown, County Wexford.
Amos Strettel made a purchase of 5,000 acres of land
in Pennsylvania,2 but there is no evidence to show that
he ever came to this county; he also held large tracts
of land in New Jersey. IN 1688, he
1693; Anne, b. 12 Mo. 23, 1694-5; Amos,
b. 4 Mo. 1, 1696, d. 11 Mo. 30, 1712; Elizabeth,
b. 7 Mo. 25, 1697; Thomas, b. 7 Mo. 13, 1699;
Ebenezer, b. 12 Mo. 27, 1700, d. 3 Mo., 1703;
Jacob, b. Mo. 5, 1702, d. 11 Mo., 1703-4;
Experience, b. 5 Mo. 23, 17u04, d. 4 Mo. 26, 1705;
Lydia, b. 6Mo. 28, 1706; Benjamin, b. 9
Mo. 1, 1707, d. 10 Mo. 21, 1708.
-------------------------
1. Robert Cuppage, born in
Cumberland, England, in 1619, married Elizabeth,
daughter of Joshua and Sarah Warren, of
Colchester, England. He had been a major in the
army, but became convinced of the Quaker principles, and
in 1662, at Wexford, for refusing to take the oath of
"Grand-Juryman," he "was committed to Prison: (Besse
II, 472). In 1672, for tithes, he had taken
from him hay, wheat, barley, oats, and lambs, to the
value of over £1 (Stockdale,
23). He died at Lambstown, 7 Mo. 15, 1683 (Leadbeater,
92; Rutty, 149). At a meeting of the Board
of Property at Philadelphia, 2 Mo. 7, 1712, there was a
recital of a deed, dated Oct. 6 and 7, 1708, in which
Thomas Cuppage, of Lambstown, Parish, of Whitechurch,
County Wexford, Ireland, gentleman, since deceased,
appears as one of the grantees. (Penna. Archives,
2nd Series, XIX., 506)
2. Penna. Archives, 2d Series, XIX.
512. |
[Pg.
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Middletown Meeting House, Delaware County. Built
About 1770
Springfield Meeting House, Delaware County. Built
1738. Taken Down 1850
From a Drawing by John Sartain, 1837. |
[Pg. 265]
and John
Burnyeat published a small book called "The
INNOCENCYof the Manifested," etc. 1
About 1716, Robert Strettell went to London and
engaged in trade, but losing a large amount of money in
the South Sea Bubble, he decided to remove to
Pennsylvania. A certificate of removal, dated 11
Mo. 26, 1736, for himself and family, from Friends'
Meeting at Horslydowne, Southwark, was received by
Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 4 Mo. 24, 1737. He
made his residence in Philadelphia and opened a shop; in
a newspaper of 1738 is this advertisement: "late
imported and to be sold by Robert Strettell at
his store in Water Street facing Fishbourne's Wharf,"
muslin, cambrics, "flowered damask,:" India velvet, blue
and white China plates, Japanese tea kettles, Scotch
snuff, "fine London Pigtail tobacco," etc. His
business prospered, and by 1744, when William Black
visited the city he had attained such affluence that he
was able to keep up a country house at Germantown.
Black writes in his Journal 2, June 1,
1744: Mr. Strettell
carried us to Germantown about a mile further where he
had a little Country House to which he used to come and
spend some part of the Summer Months, his Wife was then
there: . . . We staid till near
Sun-down at Mr. Strettell's Villa, where we were
very kindly Received by Mrs. Strettell she
appeared to be a very Agreeable Woman, and Consider-
-------------------------
1 Joseph Smith, Catalogue of Friends'
Books,II, 640
2 Pena. Mag., 1., 408. |
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[Pg. 266]
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ing she was in
years was Admirably well Shap'd; Mr. Strettell
had not been long in Philadelphia; he came over from
London with a Cargoe of Goods about 9 years Since, and
had very Good Success in Trade; he was one of the
Friends . . . he, I really do believe, appear'd what he
really was, a very Honest Dealer, and Sincere in
everything he Acted; he was a very Modest Man in
Company, Spoke little, but what he said was always worth
the Noticing, as he gave everything Consideration before
he Deliver'd it; he was . . . very Moderate in Drinking
and kept Good horses . . . Partnership with him in
Trade, he appear'd to be a very Promising Sober and well
Inclin'd young Man, and much attach'd to Business, even
uncommon door his years.
Strettell began his public career in 1741. In
that year he was elected a member of the Common Council
of the City and also appointed to the Provincial
Council. In 1748, he was elected Alderman, and in
1751, Mayor of Philadelphia. He was a Friend, but
like James Logan, was a believer in defensive
war.1
He was married, 5 Mo. 18,
1716, at Reigate, Surrey, to Philotesia Owen.2
He died in June, 1761, and in his will mentions his "Propriet-
-------------------------
1 In
1741, he was appointed on a committee to determine
whether or not a letter on defensive war, written by
James Long to the Yearly Meeting, should be read
before that body. Strettell was in favor of
having the letter read, but the other members of the
committee overrulled and a negative report was made to
the Meeting. Thereupon, Strettell arose in
his seat and began to express himself as adverse to the
decision, but one of the committee caught him by the
coat, saying sharply, "Sit thee down, Robert,
thou art single in that opinion." - Letter of Ricahrd
Peters to John Penn, October 20, 1741.
(Penna. Mag., VI., 403)
2 Philotesia Owen was born at
Coulsdon, England, 5 Mo. 17, 1697, and died June 28,
1782. She was the daughter of Nathaniel
Owen (died 11 Mo. 7, 1724), formerly of Seven Oaks,
Kent, afterward of Coulsdon, in Surrey, and subsequently
of Reigate, in the same county, by Francis Ridge
(born 1662, died 2 Mo. 6, 1724), his second wife. |
[Pg. 267]
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tary Rights in
West Jersey" and his "Greek, Latin, and French authors."
His children were: Frances, born Sept. 17,
1717, married, Feb. 13, 1842-3, to Isaac
Jones, sometime Mayor of Philadelphia; Amos
Strettel, born 1720, married, Nov. 2, 1752,
Hannah, daughter of Samuel Hansell,
Provincial Councillor, and served as Alderman of
Philadelphia in 1766, and as Assemblyman in 1780;
John Strettell,1 born 8 Mo. 29, 1721, in
Cheapside, London, married, 1776, Mary Hayling; Ann,
died unmarried, 4, Mo. 26, 1771; Robert, resided
in Dublin after his father's removal to America, but
came to Philadelphia about 1745, where he died 2 Mo. 28,
1747.2 |
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William Stockdale, Provincial
Councillor of Pennsylvania, and minister of the Society of
Friends, first appears in the annals of Friends in 1657, as of
Lanarkshire, Scotland. On February 26th of that year he
wrote a short statement of some of the sufferings of Friends in
Scotland, which is given in the second 3 edition of a Quaker
pamphlet called, "The DOCTRINES and PRINCIPLES: the
Persecutions, Imprisonment, Banish- |
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William Stockdale |
-------------------------
1. John Strettell remained in England and was
brought up to business by his uncle, John Owen He
became an opulent merchant in Lime Street, London, for some time
residing at Croyden in Surrey. He died in 1786, leaving an
estate of over £ 45,000.
2. For an extended account of the descendants see
Keith's Provincial Councillors.
3. Probably it is also in the first edition of 1657,
but I have not been able to see that edition. |
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